Remarks by the Vice President at a Luncheon for Congressman Rick Renzi
The Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa
Phoenix, Arizona

12:25 P.M. MST

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much.
Well, thank you very much. And, Lynne, that's a great story. I often
explain to people that Lynne and I got married as the result of the
1952 election victory by Dwight Eisenhower, when he ran for President.
In 1952, I was living in Lincoln, Nebraska with my folks, just a
youngster. Dad worked for the Department of Agriculture. And Lynne
was living in Casper, Wyoming.

But Eisenhower got elected, he reorganized the Agriculture
Department, Dad was given the choice of moving to Great Falls, Montana,
or Casper, Wyoming. He picked Casper. So we moved to Casper, Wyoming,
and I met Lynne. We grew up together, went to high school together,
and we'll celebrate our 40th anniversary, come August. (Applause.)

But I explained to a group the other night if it hadn't been for
that great victory by Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, Lynne would have
married somebody else. She said, right, and now he'd be Vice President
of the United States. (Laughter and applause.) There's no doubt in my
mind.

We're delighted to be back in Arizona once again. And I want to
thank my friend Rick Renzi for the tremendous work he does every day on
behalf of his district, on behalf of his state, and on behalf of the
nation. In just one term in the House, Rick has shown himself to be a
skilled legislator and a superb representative for the people of
Arizona. Now he's running for a second term. And come to think of it,
so am I. (Laughter.)

I want to thank all the statewide legislators, the statewide
officials and party leaders with us today. I also want to say a word
about Arizona's fine congressional delegation. We've got Congressman
J.D. Hayworth and Trent Franks with us today. John Shadegg and Jeff
Flake are obviously two great additions to that.

As a former member of the House, let me say that Rick and all of
his colleagues are some of the finest members in Congress that we have
in Washington, D.C. And as President of the Senate, I can say there's
no finer Senate delegation than John McCain and Jon Kyl. Your senators
are strong leaders of national stature on the most important issues
facing the country. John McCain and Jon Kyl are doing an outstanding
job in Washington, D.C. And I look forward to swearing in Senator
McCain for his fourth term next January.

I was proud to campaign with Rick in October of 2002, just a few
weeks before the election. I knew Rick would be a fine choice to
represent Arizona's first district. And he's done an impressive job in
the House of Representatives. He's fought hard for the ranchers,
miners, small business owners in Arizona. And he's been a strong
supporter of healthy forest legislation, the vital action that helps
thin the undergrowth and reduces the risk of catastrophic fire. He
understands the priorities of his district from Medicare, to Social
Security, to education and the economy.

He's a perfect fit for his constituents, a great representative in
Washington. And I think he has earned another term in the United
States House of Representatives. (Applause.)

President Bush and I have now begun the fourth year of our
administration, a period defined by serious challenges, hard choices,
and the need for decisive action. In this time of testing, the
President and I have been grateful to have strong leaders like Rick
Renzi at our side.

There are many tasks that those of us in public service must take
on, but none is more important than working to ensure that the citizens
of this great country are safe and secure. The attacks of September
11, 2001, signaled the arrival of an entirely different era. We
suffered massive casualties on our own soil. We awakened to dangers
even more lethal -- the possibility that terrorists had gained
chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons from outlaw regimes and
turned those weapons against the United States or our friends.

Remembering what we saw the morning of 9/11, and knowing the nature
of these enemies, we have as clear a responsibility as should ever fall
to government, we must do everything in our power to protect our people
from terrorist attacks, and to keep terrorists from ever acquiring
weapons of mass destruction. (Applause.)

This great and urgent responsibility has required a shift in our
national security strategy. For many years prior to 9/11, we treated
terror attacks against Americans as isolated incidents and answered, if
at all, on an ad hoc basis -- never in a systematic way. Even after an
attack inside our own country, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade
Center, in New York, there was a tendency to treat terrorist incidents
as individual criminal acts to be handled primarily through law
enforcement.

The man who perpetrated that attack in New York was tracked down,
arrested, convicted and sent off to serve a 240-year sentence. Yet
behind that one man was a growing network with operatives inside and
outside the United States waging war against our country.

For us that war started on 9/11, for them it started many years
before. In 1996, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, first
proposed to Osama bin Laden that they use hijacked airliners to attack
targets in the United States. During this period, thousands of
terrorists were trained at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. And we've
seen the work of terrorists in many attacks since 9/11, in Riyadh,
Casablanca, Mombasa, Bali, Jakarta, Najaf, Baghdad, and most recently
-- possibly -- Madrid.

The attack in Spain once again reveals the brutality of our enemy
and once again shows that the fight against terrorism is the
responsibility of all free nations. The terrorists are testing the
unity and the resolve of the civilized world, and we must rise to that
task. (Applause.)

Against this kind of determined, organized, ruthless enemy, we are
pursuing a clear strategy, not merely to prosecute a series of crimes,
but to conduct a global campaign against the terror network.

Our strategy has several key elements. We've strengthened our
defenses here at home, organizing the government to better protect the
homeland. But a good defense is not enough. A terrorist enemy holds
no territory, defends no population, is unconstrained by rules of
warfare, and respects no law of morality. Such an enemy cannot be
deterred, contained, appeased, or negotiated with -- it can only be
destroyed. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the business at hand.
(Applause.)

In Afghanistan, we've removed the brutal Taliban from power and
destroyed the al Qaeda training camps. In Iraq, America and our allies
rid the Iraqi people of a murderous dictator, and rid the world of a
menace to our peace and stability. A year ago, Saddam Hussein
controlled the lives and the future of almost 25 million people. Today
he's in jail -- never again to brutalize the Iraqi people.
(Applause.) He will never again pursue weapons of mass destruction, or
support dangerous terrorists, never again threaten the United States of
America.

From the beginning, America has sought and received international
support for our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the war on
terror, we will always seek cooperation from our allies around the
world. But as the President has made clear, there is a difference
between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the
objections of a few. The United States will never seek a permission
slip to defend the security of our country. (Applause.)

I noticed recently that Senator Kerry has been making some
observations about foreign policy. (Laughter.) He's been telling
people that his ideas have gained strong support, at least among
unnamed foreigners he's been spending time with. (Laughter.) Senator
Kerry said, and I quote, "I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and
say this publicly, but, boy, they look at you and say, you've got to
win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy, things
like that." End quote.

Yesterday, in Pennsylvania, a voter asked Senator Kerry directly
who these foreign leaders are. Senator Kerry said, "that's none of
your business." But it is our business when a candidate for President
claims the political endorsement of foreign leaders. At the very
least, we have a right to know what he is saying to foreign leaders
that makes them so supportive of his candidacy. (Applause.)

Our country is enormously fortunate during these times of testing
to have George W. Bush as our Commander-in-Chief. (Applause.) He's
been strong, he's been steady, and he's been consistent.

In January, I visited an American military base at Vicenza, Italy,
and had a chance to talk with some of the fine men and women of our
armed forces who had recently returned from Iraq. One young soldier,
part of the 173rd Airborne that jumped into Iraq at the beginning of
the war, wanted me to know how much he appreciated the President's
decisive leadership. "Indecision kills, sir," this young soldier said
to me, "indecision kills."

These are not times for leaders who shift with the political winds,
saying one thing one day and another the next. We need a
Commander-in-Chief of clear vision and steady determination. And
that's just what we have in President George W. Bush. (Applause.)

We've been enormously fortunate during these times of testing for
our nation to have the dedicated service of the men and women who wear
America's uniform. Many of them have seen hard duty, long deployments,
and fierce fighting. They've endured the loss of friends and
comrades. They've done all of these things with great courage, and we
are enormously proud of each and every one of them. (Applause.)

We still face challenges in Afghanistan and Iraq, but our progress
has been enormous. In Afghanistan, there is a new constitution; free
elections will be held later this year. In Iraq, a new interim
constitution has been signed. This is an historic achievement, a
landmark for our time and for future generations. The United States
can be very proud of the role we're playing in extending liberty's
frontiers. And when we help people to be free, we make our friends and
allies more secure. Terrorists do not find fertile recruiting grounds
in societies where people have the right to guide their own destinies
and choose their own leaders.

The long-term security of our nation has been a principal concern
of President Bush, and so has been the economic well-being of our
citizens. By the time we took office, the economy was sliding into
recession. Then, just as we were beginning to recover, terrorists
struck our nation and shook our economy. Working with Rick Renzi and
others in Congress, President Bush has taken strong, confident steps to
get the economy growing again. The President signed into law three
separate tax relief measures, resulting in significant tax relief for
millions of American families and businesses. (Applause.)

We doubled the child tax credit, decreased the marriage penalty,
and cut rates across the board. We raised the expensing deduction for
small businesses to give them strong incentives to invest, and we put
the death tax on the way to extinction. (Applause.)

Now we're beginning to see the results of the President's
policies. In the second half of last year, our economy grew at an
annual rate of 6.1 percent, its fastest pace in nearly two decades, and
the highest rate of any major industrialized nation. New home
construction last year was the highest in 25 years. The home ownership
rate is the highest ever. Interest rates are low. Inflation is low.
Manufacturing activity is increasing. Productivity is high. Business
investment is growing. And unemployment, at 5.6 percent, is almost
exactly where it was when Senator Kerry was campaigning for Bill
Clinton in 1996.

Real disposable personal income is growing strongly, meaning that
American workers have more money to spend, to save and invest.
America's economy is moving in the right direction. Don't let anyone
tell you otherwise. (Applause.)

The American people are using their money better than the
government would have, and Congress was right to let them keep it. As
you know, there are voices in the land who want to roll back the Bush
tax cuts. Sometimes I hear these voices at night on the evening news.
(Laughter.) Senator Kerry has said he would repeal the Bush tax cuts
within his first 100 days in office. This isn't surprising when you
consider that he has voted 350 times in the United States Senate for
higher taxes. But for the sake of long-term growth and job-creation,
we ought to do exactly the opposite of what Senator Kerry proposed: We
should make the Bush tax cuts permanent. (Applause.)

Tax cuts started the economic recovery, to strengthen it even more,
we need to protect small business owners and employees from frivolous
lawsuits and needless regulations. We need to control the costs of
health care by passing medical liability reform. Here in Arizona, and
across the nation, good doctors should be able to spend their time
healing patients, not fighting lawyers. (Applause.)

We need to pass sound energy legislation to modernize our
electricity system and to make America less dependent on foreign
sources of energy. (Applause.) And we should limit the burden of
government on this economy by acting as good stewards of the taxpayers'
dollars. The President has proposed a budget that limits the growth in
discretionary spending. With spending discipline and pro-growth
economic policies, we can cut the deficit in half in the five years.

It is also time for the United States Senate to get about the
business of confirming President Bush's judicial nominees. (Applause.)
The President has put forward talented, experienced men and women who
represent the mainstream of American law and American values. Yet
Senate Democrats have taken to waging filibusters, denying up-or-down
votes for months and even years. That is unfair to the judicial
nominees and it's an abuse of the constitutional process. This small
group of senators needs to stop playing politics with American
justice. Every nominee deserves a prompt up-or-down vote on the Senate
floor. And that's another reason you need to send John McCain back to
the United States Senate. (Applause.)

On issue after issue, from national security, to economic growth,
to improving our schools, President Bush has led the way in making
progress for the American people. Rick has stood with us on vital
issues, and he shares our optimism about the years ahead.

President Bush has a clear vision for the future of this country:
Abroad, we will use America's great power to serve great purposes, to
turn back the forces of terror, and to spread hope and freedom
throughout the world.

Here at home, we will continue building prosperity that reaches
every corner of this land so that every child who grows up in the
United States will have a chance to learn, to succeed, and to rise in
the world.

Once again, thank you all for your commitment to the cause we
share. It's an honor to stand with you in supporting Rick Renzi. You
are united behind a strong leader and a congressman with the right
priorities for his state. Rick is showing his talent, and dedication,
and reflecting great credit on the people of the first district of
Arizona. President Bush and I look forward to working with him for a
long time to come.